History Of Glass Goes Back To Ancient Times

June 1, 1985|By Ralph and Terry Kovel, Cowles Syndicate Inc.

Glass originally was considered a man-made stone. The glass of the Greeks and Romans was opaque and colored and was substituted for natural minerals. As the glass was perfected, transparent gemstone-like glass evolved. The hard gemlike glass was engraved or etched in the same way as natural rock crystal. Another type of glassware resembled hard stone cameos. It was made by combining layers of colored glass. The top layers were then cut away to expose patterns of another color.

A less expensive type of cameo cutting was perfected after 1906 by Frederick Carter at the Steuben Glassworks in Corning, N.Y. A design was placed on the glass with a special ink and the rest of the glass was covered with wax. The glass was then placed into an acid bath and the design was ''eaten'' into the piece. This method of making ''acid cutbacks'' was discontinued about 1934.

QUESTION: Can you suggest an antique gift for a bride-to-be?

ANSWER: It has been said that good luck at a wedding is assured by something borrowed, something blue and a penny in your shoe. In the 19th century there were many other symbols connected with weddings. Buckles, goblets, special silver wedding cups shaped like a woman holding a tumbler and wooden cake molds with hearts and flowers were all popular gifts. The father of the bride in the 18th century gave the groom his shoe as a sign that it was the new husband's duty to beat the disobedient girl. It also was considered a fertility symbol. By the mid-19th century this custom had changed to the symbolic white bisque shoe that was used as a part of a wedding cake decoration.

Q: I have a pitcher with a picture of Lord Wellington on one side and General Hill on the other. The figures are very crude. The colors are bright. The pottery is quite soft and is a bit chipped. My mother said that it is very old. Who made this type of pitcher, and when?

A: You own an English pitcher known as Pratt ware. It was made about 1810 by the Pratt family of potters at several factories. Many others copied it and examples now known as Pratt ware were made in Staffordshire, Liverpool, Sunderland and even some towns in Scotland. The brightly colored, rather primitive modeled pitchers are popular.

There has been much confusion about this ware and only recently has the full story been offered in a book, Pratt Ware, by John and Griselda Lewis (Antique Collectors Club, Suffolk, England).

Your pitcher was made to honor Lord Wellington and Gen. Rowland Hill, who were heroes of the battle of Waterloo.

Q: How can I tell the age of my old Popeye wristwatch?

A: The original 1934 Popeye watch was made by the New Haven Clock Co. and had a profile view of Popeye on the oblong face. His tattooed arms moved to tell the time. Wimpy and other characters also were on the face. The watch had a chrome-plated case. In 1971, a Popeye wristwatch was made by the Sheffield Watch Corp. It is similar to the original, but Popeye is holding a can of spinach.

Q: I have a wooden bellows, if the label on the strange item is to be believed. It looks like a huge syringe that is all wood. When the plunger is pulled back and pushed in, air is expelled. I bought it as a farm tool to dust plants with insecticide, but there is no way to put anything into the bellows. Do you know how it was used?

A: You probably own a piano tuner's bellows. The wooden dust bellows was used to blow dust off the internal parts of a piano. The bellows were about 26 inches in length and 4 inches in diameter. We have seen several sold at shops as bicycle pumps, fireplace bellows and plant dusters.

Q: My mother's Russel Wright dishes are now mine. She thinks my old bedroom set that was purchased about 1938 was designed by Wright. Did he make furniture?

A: Russel Wright was a very successful industrial designer. He designed a line of furniture called Modern Living in 1936. It was made of bleached rock maple.

Antique tip: Don't ever wash a piece of ivory. Collectors prefer ivory with the slightly brown tones given by age. Washing removes this color and makes the ivory an undesirable white color. New ivories often are stained brown by dipping in tea.